Four organisations we love with a four-day work week - Escape 100 Spotlight
The 4-day working week is quickly becoming a must-have when searching for a new purposeful job. Here are some of our favourites from the Escape 100 list 2022.
The 4-day working week is quickly becoming a must-have when searching for a new purposeful job (note to employers: a startup-style ping-pong table in the office and sad ‘fruit Fridays’ just don’t kick it anymore!).
We’ve been on a 4-day working week at Escape for a while now, and we’re not the only ones. After the lockdowns forced companies into different ways of working, a wave of 4-day week trials have begun across the UK, US, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, led by organisations like 4 Day Global and 4 Day Week. As expected, it’s positive news so far - last week the UK’s trial data showed that after 6 months, productivity has stayed the same or improved, and wellbeing and mental health have also gone up for employees. Win-win!
Encouraging organisations to explore new, progressive ways of working is something that we do at Escape, as well as championing the organisations that are already ahead of the pack. A 4-day week is one of the criteria we used to select the winners of The Escape 100, our annual list of the top purpose-led organisations to work for. Scored over 145 data points in order to make the cut, in this year’s list you’ll find organisations that really are doing things differently, for both the planet and their employees.
So without further ado, here are just a selection of the Escape 100 winning organisations, who offer a 4-day work week:
Fed up with their regular jobs, Owen and Kieran hatched the concept of Big Lemon over a pint in a pub. This Wales-based studio dreams up fun and engaging tech solutions, leading the ‘tech for good’ movement while they’re at all. In the Escape 100 in 2022, they came up top in the People metric. Must be something to do with their 100% remote environment, home office budget, annual retreats, maternity/paternity/adoption leave, subscriptions (Spotify, coffee, tea and plan), 4-day working week (which you can read about in our interview with Big Lemon here), or the gorgeous black labradors that hang out at their office!
The plastic pollution problem can feel overwhelming at times, but City to Sea brings humour, humility, and enthusiasm to a what-should-be depressing issue, making it easy to get involved. With a clear mission and innovative ways of working, it’s no surprise that they came up top in this year’s Escape 100 list. But their day-to-day impact is not all they’re winning at - their progressive work environment looks after their employees, too. The employees at City to Sea highlighted the flexible working culture as being supportive of employee health and wellbeing, generosity, and crucially as a place where you can show up to work wholeheartedly and be a part of making a big change. This year they were part of a 4-day working week trial, too, and decided to make it permanent.
Earthly are on a mission to help businesses remove at least 1 Gigatonne (1 billion tonnes, whoa!) of carbon by 2030, via their hand-picked and science-backed projects, ranging from kelp farms off the UK coast to regenerative farming in Tanzania to rainforests in Peru. They’re already used by giants like LÓreal, Crowdcube, CaixaBank, and Virgin Racing. But that’s not all - this B-Corp cares for its team with a remote-first approach, a 4-day working week, co-working options, budget for mental and physical health, coaching, paid volunteering days, and much, much more.
Ever seen an indoor, vertical farm? These space-saving farming methods are being hailed as a solution to reducing food miles, water use, pesticide use and reducing pressure on soils. Bristol-based LettUs Grow offers a patented aeroponic technology that lets anyone grow delicious crops in stacked layers. Now also a B-Corp organisation, Lettus Grow offers flexible schedules and people-first benefits, including a bike repair station, regular salary reviews, a 4-day working week on request (position dependent), contributions to ongoing learning, and more.
There are many other flexible, remote, and 4-day week organisations in The Escape 100 - this is by no means an exhaustive list. Check out The Escape 100 2022 finalists to learn more about their missions, impact and progressive working environments - you might even find your next (career) adventure!